Method of segregating bodies, according to their orientation, having pronounced dielectric properties in an alternating electrostatic field, and apparatus for performing same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to such fields of industry and engineering, where successively supplied bodies should be oriented into desired positions thereof, and, more particularly, it relates to a method of segregating, according to their orientation, bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an alternating electrostatic field, as well as to an apparatus for performing such method. The present invention can be used for introducing automation into various production processes, where successively supplied articles or workpieces, preferably, plate-like in configuration, are to be treated and handled in the course of their being manufactured and assembled into corresponding units, instruments, machines, etc.

United States Patent [191 Ioffe METHOD OF SEGREGATING BODIES,

ACCORDING TO THEIR ORIENTATION, HAVING PRONOUNCED DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES IN AN ALTERNATING ELECTROSTATIC FIELD, AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING SAME Inventor:

[76] Benjamin Alexandrovich Ioffe, ulitsa Raunas 45/2, kv. 81, Riga, U.S .S.R.

Filed: Dec. 16, 1969 Appl. No.: 885,536

US. Cl. 221/157, 193/43 B Int. Cl B23q 7/12 Fieid of Search 193/43 B, 43 D; 198/41, 33 R; 221/158, 171, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1966 Eckhaus et al. 221/171 10/1964 Arnett 198/41 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Norway .l 193/43 Sept. 25,1973

Primary Examiner--Richard E. Aegerter Assistant ExaminerHadd S. Lane Attomey-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz and Nissen [5 7 ABSTRACT The present invention relates to such fields of industry and engineering, where successively supplied bodies should be oriented into desired positions thereof, and,

more particularly, it relates to a method of segregating, according to their orientation, bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an alternating electrostatic field, as well as to an apparatus for performing such method.

The present invention can be used for introducing automation into various production processes, where successively supplied articles or workpieces, preferably, plate-like in configuration, are to be treated and handled in the course of their being manufactured and assembled into corresponding units, instruments, machines, etc.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures METHOD OF SEGREGATING BODIES, ACCORDING TO THEIR ORIENTATION, HAVING PRONOUNCED DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES IN AN ALTERNATING ELECTROSTATIC FIELD, AND

APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING SAME The present invention relates to fields of engineering, in which successively supplied bodies are oriented into desired positions, and, more particularly, it relates to a method of orienting bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an electrostatic field, and to apparatus for performing'such method.

The present invention can be used for introducing automation into various production processes, in which successively supplied workpieces or articles which are, preferably, plate-like in configuration, are to be treated or handled for assembling them into respective units, devices, instruments or machines.

In the prior art a constant uniform electrostatic field has been already used, e.g. for orienting elongated bodies along the direction of the field. Thus, in order to facilitate a grain sieving operation, grains are supplied onto a sieve which concurrently serves as one of a pair of electrodes, the other electrode being positioned above the sieve. The pair of electrodes are connected to a source of direct electric voltage, whereby the action of the electrostatic field thus created rotates the grains so that their elongated side is directed along the field.

However, this known method cannot be used for orienting such bodies as constituent parts of instruments, devices, etc., in view of the specific features of these bodies. This is impossible because of the bodies being oriented acting upon each other, the bodies tending to adhere to structural elements disposed adjacent to an orientation zone, the spontaneous reorientation of the bodies themselves, and several other factors opposing the forces applied to the bodies during orientation in a desired direction.

It is an object of the present invention to create a method of orienting bodies articles in an elctrostatic field, which largely eliminates the abovementioned disadvantages which are inherent in a method of using a constant electrostatic field for the described purpose, and which method herein disclosed provides for accurate orientation of bodies articles preferably of plate-like configuration according to either an internal or an external feature thereof, for example, symmetri cal plate-like articles made of several materials, or asymmetrical articles having a slot, an opening, or the like, adjacent to one end thereof.

This object is attained by a method of orienting bod-. ies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an electrostatic field, which method, in accordance with the present invention, comprises the step of orienting a body under the action there upon of an alternating electrostatic field constituted by at least two electrostatic fluxes offset relative to one another, so that the respective fluxes pass through different portions of the body, preferably, the most distantly spaced portions of the body.

It is advantageous that the intensity of the electrostatic field increases toward the respective central portion of each one of the electrostatic fields.

The herein disclosed method may be performed by an apparatus comprising, In accordance with the invention, at least three electrodes, each having a pointed projection, the projections of the electrodes being in different planes and defining therebetween an orientation zone, and conveying means adapted to supply successive bodies toward the orientation zone and to deliver the bodies therefrom after the orientation operation.

The herein disclosed method and the apparatus for performing same have been found to attain successfully the above described objects.-

The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of a method of orienting bodies in an electrostatic field, and of an apparatus for performing such method, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I shows schematically a perspective view of an apparatus for carrying out amethod of orienting bodies or articles in an alternating electrostatic field, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows by way of illustration several kinds of 7 articles which can be oriented by means of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now in particular to the appended drawings, the herein disclosed method which is herein described in conjunction with an apparatus for carrying out the method includes the step of creating within an orientation zone I FIGS. 1 and 2 an alternating electrostatic field, by supplying high A.C. voltage to electrodes 2, 3 and 4 supported by insulating members 5, the voltage being supplied from an alternating current source 6. Therefore, there are created two alternating electrostaticfluxes which are offset relative to each other. One of the fluxes is established between the electrodes 2 and 4 and passes through the left-hand solid portion of a body 7 being oriented, while the other flux,

established between the electrodes 3 and 4 passes through the right-hand portion of the same body 7, having a passage 8 formed therein. The action of the alternating electrostatic field thus created results in forces F and F" acting, respectively, upon the left-hand and the right-hand portions of the body. The force F acting upon the solid portion of the body 7 being greater than the force F", there is produced a torque tending to tip the body 7 to the left, which torque, together with the gravity forces, will deliver the body 7 onto the trough or conveying means 9. Similarly, bodies 10, as they are forwarded into the orientation zone 1 by the conveyor 11, are tipped to the right, and, subsequently, are delivered by the through 12, since the bodies 10 have their passage containing portion 13 positioned on the left. Here, too, the action of the alternating electrostatic field on the portion having an air passage therethrough will be smaller in value than the action thereof on the solid portion of the same body.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention one of the electrodes, e. g. the electrode 4 FIGS. 1 and 2 is grounded'during operation. It is also advisable for the electrodes 2, 3 and 4 to be wedge-shaped in configuration, with the respective pointed edges facing the orientation zone I, which provides for greater concentration of the respective electrostatic fluxes.

The hereinabove disclosed method and apparatus, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, have been found to perform accurate orientation of a variety of generally flatshaped articles, pursuant to a specific characteristic feature of an article, which may be a slight asymmetry of such article, due to the article having a cavity, a cutaway portion, an aperture, or a certain amount of foreign matter, adjacent to one end thereof.

The method and apparatus may be used, apart from orienting articles and workpieces in accordance with their characteristic features of the above kinds, for rejecting defective articles and also for sorting articles, in conformance with similar features on such articles.

Illustrated in FIG. 3 of the appended drawings are several kinds of articles having features which are illustrative in use in an operation of orienting these articles by the method and apparatus according to the present invention.

In an article 14 this characteristic feature is a transversely extending opening 15; in an article 16 a slot 17 in one of the end faces; in an article 20 there are two portions made of different materials, with the portion 21 being of a material having greater dielectric properties than the material of the portion 22; and an article 23 has a pair of internal perforations 24 in one of its end portions, these perforations being normally hidden from view.

What is claimed is:

l. A method of segregating according to orientation successively conveyed bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an electrostatic field, said method comprising the step of placing each said successive body under the action of an alternating electrostatic field constituted by at least two symmetric alternating electrostatic fluxes offset relative to each other so that said fluxes are made to pass through different, spaced portions of the body being segregated, providing the electrostatic field fluxes in such a manner that, as a result of interaction of these fluxes in the field with the body portions being identified, to thereby form forces directed at angles relative to the plane of the body portions, and utilizing a difference between said forces to segregate said bodies.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising increasing the intensity of said electrostatic field in the direction from the area of said placing of the body portion which is to be subjected to said forces to the areas of its segregation and choosing the zone of the increasing intensity of the electrostatic field with such ranges that the body is turned from an unstable original position into a required direction of segregation.

3. An apparatus for segregation of successively conveyed bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an electrostatic field, each said successive body being segregated under the influence of an alternating electrostatic field constituted by at least two symmetric alternating electrostatic fluxes offset relative to each other so that said fluxes are made to pass through different, spaced portions of the body being segregated, comprising at least three spaced electrodes and a source of alternating voltage connected thereto, each of said electrodes having a substantially wedge-shaped portion, the pointed edges of said substantially wedge-shaped portions of said electrodes defining therebetween segregation zone, and conveying means for supplying said successive bodies toward said segregation zone and for delivering said bodies therefrom after their having been subjected to a segregation sequence, the conveying means being formed, in the region of the interelectrode space, from a dielectric material having a dielectric penetration close to that of the ambient medium, and the center electrode of said three electrodes being mounted with respect to the lateral electrodes whereby the body portions subjected to said segregation are disposed in the inter-electrode spaces in which electrostatic field fluxes are formed. 

1. A method of segregating according to orientation successively conveyed bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an electrostatic field, said method comprising the step of placing each said successive body under the action of an alternating electrostatic field constituted by at least two symmetric alternating electrostatic fluxes offset relative to each other so that said fluxes are made to pass through different, spaced portions of the body being segregated, providing the electrostatic field fluxes in such a manner that, as a result of interaction of these fluxes in the field with the body portions being identified, to thereby form forces directed at angles relative to the plane of the body portions, and utilizing a difference between said forces to segregate said bodies.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising increasing the intensity of said electrostatic field in the direction from the area of said placing of the body portion which is to be subjected to said forces to the areas of its segregation and choosing the zone of the increasing intensity of the electrostatic field with such ranges that the body is turned from an unstable original position into a required direction of segregation.
 3. An apparatus for segregation of successively conveyed bodies made of materials having pronounced dielectric properties in an electrostatic field, each said successive body being segregated under the influence of an alternating electrostatic field constituted by at least two symmetric alternating electrostatic fluxes offset relative to each other so that said fluxes are made to pass through different, spaced portions of the body being segregated, comprising at least three spaced electrodes and a source of alternating voltage connected thereto, each of said electrodes having a substantially wedge-shaped portion, the pointed edges of said substantially wedge-shaped portions of said electrodes defining therebetween segregation zone, and conveying means for supplying said successive bodies toward said segregation zone and for delivering said bodies therefrom after their having been subjected to a segregation sequence, the conveying means being formed, in the region of the interelectrode space, from a dielectric material having a dielectric penetration close to that of the ambient medium, and the center electrode of said three electrodes being mounted with respect to the lateral electrodes whereby the body portions subjected to said segregation are disposed in the inter-electrode spaces in which electrostatic field fluxes are formed. 